Supercritical CO2 antisolvent precipitation of polymer networks of l-PLA, PMMA and PMMA/PCL blends for biomedical applications

A supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO2) antisolvent technique was used for the precipitation of several biopolymers into fibers organized in a three-dimensional network. The work was first focused on separately processing either a biodegradable (polycaprolactone or polylactic acid) or a non-biodegradable (polymethylmetacrylate) homopolymer. Second, we established that the antisolvent supercritical technique can be also used to make fibrous networks of blends constitute by non-biodegradable and biodegradable polymers (polymethylmetacrylate/polycaprolactone). The influence of several operating variables (e.g., liquid solution concentration or flow rate and nozzle design) on the polymers morphology and properties was evaluated. For all studied systems, fibers with a rough textured surface and an extremely high surface area in the order of 100–400 m2 g−1 were precipitated. Prepared materials have potential applications in tissue engineering, since they have intrinsic advantages from a biomimetic approach.